A Sirius year

Macroeconomic prospects look bright in the Year of the Dog with global growth returning to around 4% in 2018. Philippine GDP growth is expected to remain among the fastest, at 6.8% this year. Apart from rising world demand, domestic activity will gain from higher household spending and public construction gathering momentum. However, higher inflation could limit the boon to consumers’ purchasing power while various constraints cap upsides to public construction. On the political front, maneuvers to shortcut the charter change process will bring much noise, although markets are expected t...